Sahakar Bharati Patron and senior cooperator Satish Marathe has mooted the idea of starting Co-operative Public Partnership in the country.
Marathe says the Public Private Partnership model (PPP) has not worked in the service sector on the expected lines and now it is time the government gave cooperative a chance.
He first raised the issue from the podium of IFFCO on the occasion of the 28th Nehru Memorial Lecture where he was bestowed with a cooperative award.
We have seen in cases of water or electricity or transport, the PPP model has come to naught with widespread dissatisfaction among consumers. Let us create new blueprints such as “Co-operative Public Partnership”, he said advocating the case of cooperative before the policy makers.
The other issue raised by Marathe was the lack of understanding among administrators about a difference between Cooperative and a company. They seem to lump both of them together inflicting injustice on the cooperative sector. “We must convince one and all that cooperative unlike a company is not for making profit for a few”, Marathe underlined sadly.
Owing to its difference with a company there is also a need to create a new set of accounting standards for cooperatives as these should be different from the ones laid down for a company. I already had a meeting with some Chartered Accounts towards achieving this goal, said Marathe.
Marathe called upon all cooperators to come together forgetting their party affiliations and work for the cooperative movement. The 97th amendment has thrown before us a unique chance and we all must grab it. He also reminded that it is not government business to be in the cooperative sector as it is best when it is people- oriented.